


Being Helpful

by scruffandyarn



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 16:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2276025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scruffandyarn/pseuds/scruffandyarn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel offers some comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being Helpful

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VaWest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaWest/gifts).



> This is for my friend, V, who's been having a rough time of it, lately.

Gabriel was headed to the bunker’s kitchen when a sound made him pause, mid-step. He had been around for so long and had heard the sounds of heartbreak in its many forms—but never from her. Just beyond the closed door of her room, he could clearly hear her sobbing, even though he was sure she was probably trying to muffle it with a pillow.

“Can I come in?” He knocked on the door, hoping she’d grant him entrance. Normally, he’d ignore politeness and just poof in, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it this time.

“No.” Her voice was nasally—probably from crying.

“Please? I’m just wanting to talk.”

“Go away.”

“I can’t do that, sweetheart, until I know for sure that you’re OK.” He could hear her moving about her room before the door was flung open.

“I’m fine. You can go.” She tried to close the door, but he shoved his foot in the way. “Gabriel, please just leave me alone.”

“You’re upset.”

“I’m _fine_.” Her bloodshot eyes and stuffy nose said otherwise. “I don’t wanna do this right now.”

“So, what _do_ you want to do right now?” She growled, but let the door handle slip from her grasp. He pushed the door completely open and stepped into her room. “Anything you want. Check out the International Space Station? Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory? The world’s biggest ball of twine?” She choked out a small laugh, bitter as it was. “Love, I can’t help you if you won’t let me.”

“Help? I’m so goddamn broken, Gabe, not even _you_ could help me.” Without her consent, tears began to fall from her eyes. She angrily wiped them away.

“You’re **not** broken.” Damn, but she wished she could actually believe that. “Why can’t you believe it?”

“Stop reading my mind.”

“Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?”

“No.”

“I see a girl who has the most beautiful soul I’ve ever had the privilege to look at. I see where life has tried to beat you down, but I also see how it has never succeeded in breaking you.” He reached out to touch her face but she shied away from his hand. He dropped it back to his side, but didn’t stop speaking. “I see someone who is stronger than she thinks she is, because even though you have endured so much, the fact that you’ve endured it all and you’re still here tells me you are strong. It tells me that you aren’t going to let anything hold you back and keep you from surviving.”

Tears started falling more freely and she didn’t bother wiping them away.

“It hurts—god, it hurts so bad.” She began to sob, her shoulders hunched and shaking. He moved when he saw her knees begin to shake, catching her before she could collapse on the ground. “I don’t wanna hurt anymore.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him.

“I know.” He kissed the top of her head and began to rock her slowly as she clung to him and cried into his shirt. More than anything, he wanted to take her pain away. He knew that, short of wiping her memory clean, the past would always linger just on the edge of her awareness, waiting to catch her off-guard. The best he could do was just to be there for her when it did. And _nothing_ was going to stop him from doing just that.


End file.
